content analysis
Definition
Content analysis is a systematic method for coding and categorising open-ended textual responses into discrete, analysable units. In psychological research, quantitative content analysis allows investigators to move beyond rating-scale data and examine the substance of participants' reasoning, including the type and quantity of justifications they produce. Applied to believers and nonbelievers of misinformation, the method permits direct comparison of reasoning patterns, such as whether groups differ in their use of normative, peripheral, or self-generated justifications when evaluating expert evidence.
Sources: Robson et al. (2024)
Related Terms
- misinformation (1 shared article)
- reasoning (1 shared article)
- conspiracy theories (1 shared article)
- epistemically suspect beliefs (1 shared article)
Applications
Content Analysis and Misinformation Belief
Quantitative content analysis of open-ended justifications revealed that Fringe believers consistently produced fewer normative justifications based on criteria such as an expert's field, ability, or consistency, compared to Mainstream believers. This pattern held across two independent studies, with Fringe believers also more likely to substitute objective evidence with self-generated assumptions. The findings support an Information Preference account of misinformation belief rather than a straightforwardly miserly one.
Sources: Robson et al. (2024)
Content Analysis and Reasoning Effort
Content analysis was used to assess reasoning effort by measuring the quantity of justifications and total words produced when participants evaluated expert evidence. Evidence for the Miserly Hypothesis was mixed: Fringe believers typed significantly fewer words in Study 1 but not in Study 2, and the two groups did not consistently differ in the overall number of justifications provided.
Sources: Robson et al. (2024)
